Living Marina

To be perfectly honest, I could spend the rest of my life trying to adequately write about living a whole life, taking chances, dreaming big and making your life, the best it can be. Yesterday, I read one essay that nailed it on the head. As I read the heartbreaking story about Marina Keegan, my heart was full. My sister Jen said it best, “I know we shouldn’t question God’s plan, but sometimes we want to question God’s plan.”

In her too short 22 years, she was able to sum up a manifesto, an essay on how to truly spend your days. Ironically, she didn’t even know exactly what she had accomplished when she edited and proofread her final draft. She is inspiring, eloquent, humorous and above all, she is right. Sadly, her statement about having her whole life ahead of her was, tragically, incorrect.

Note to self: START TODAY. There are no guarantees. Starting a new life doesn’t only have to come on January 1. A better you, a better relationship, a better job, a better life can start on May 30th, as well.

Yesterday, I was just telling my son of a tweet I had read that questioned why Americans have two days to honor veterans, as we should, but not one day to celebrate peace. He and I were imagining a national holiday spent working on doing good in the world. A day when we were exactly the person we knew we could be; the best version of our self. (Maybe it could be on John Lennon’s birthday, no?)

A day unplugging from the social world and plugging in to your real world; offering a smile to everyone, letting others go first, holding doors for each other, letting go of the road rage. Just looking up from our phones and into the eyes of the world would be a great start. And, we would call each other out with a simple , “Ahhh, it’s Peace Day, remember?!” and we would bring that person around and share a good laugh. We’ve been trained to pinch someone for not wearing green on St. Patrick’s day, for crying out loud, it could work!

I hope you will read “The Opposite of Loneliness” in its entirety, keeping the Keegan family in your thoughts, while putting the words of Marina into action.

“Let’s make something happen to this world.”

I will offer up my own Peace day in honor of a girl I never met, a girl who could be my daughter, a girl who was much wiser than her years and encouraged a better world for us all. Today, I will be Living Marina.